1. Field
Embodiments of the invention relate to determining an angular position of a tape reel using a timing based servo format.
2. Description of the Related Art
A host computer may be coupled to a tape drive. The host computer includes cache and executes a host application. The tape drive has tape cartridges for storing data.
With track densities increasing and tape thickness decreasing in the tape storage industry, fluctuations in tension can cause, but is not limited to, the following problems:
1. Track misplacement caused by changes in tape width due to changes in tension (Poisson's Ratio).
2. Stack quality changes (e.g., conditions, such as spoking, are related to tension fluctuations. Spoking may occur when magnetic tape is wound onto a tape reel with the tension increasing toward the end of the winding, and the higher tension on the outside of the tape causes the inner coils of the tape to buckle and deform.
The two problems listed above significantly reduce the chance that the tape drive will be capable of retrieving the data from the tape at a later time.
In tape drive systems, reel motors control the tape motion and tape tension. Precision control of the reel to reel motors enables more accurate and consistent tape tension, which can improve the head to tape interface and minimize tape damage. Such precision control also allows the drive to operate at higher tape velocities without tape damage.
One of the sources of tension fluctuations may be found in the reel motors within the tape drive. This is due to the variation in the torque that a reel motor produces as the motor rotates. This torque ripple occurs as the magnets align with the field windings. A technique of motor control called Field Oriented Control, also called Vector Control, which is capable of maintaining a force whose direction is tangent to the rotor, may be used to reduce torque ripple and to enable more efficient control of brushless DC motors (BLDC motors). These control techniques are able to apply current to the motor in a way that gives a more controlled, smooth torque. However, one of the variables in these control techniques is the angular position of the motor (also referred to as a reel motor angle), which is used so that currents can be appropriately applied to the motor windings. In particular, different currents are applied to the motor windings such that these different currents cause a certain magnetic field, and these currents are adjusted as the motor turns. The angular position may be described as an amount of rotation from an origin (e.g., x degrees/360 degrees, which is a fraction ranging from zero to one) or angular position may be described in degrees ranging from zero to 360. Usually the angular position of the motor is provided by an encoder attached to the reel motor. However, encoders tend to be expensive components, and, in order to keep the cost of the tape drive down, there are no encoders on the reel motors in a tape drive.
Thus, there is a need in the art for improved determination of an angular position of a tape reel.